For those of you who know (or at least stalk) me, you are familiar with my love of goal setting (and accomplishing). So I begin the entry with this:
Granada and Barcelona catch up this entry.
Semana Santa (Spring Break) adventures by Thursday, April 13th.
Step one...
¡Granada! Land of delicious food...
So we went to Granada (if I remember correctly) the last weekend in February. Perhaps it was the first weekend in March. If dates mattered to you, I would check, but I rest assured you're probably not stressing about it.
We = Alex, Sonya, Liz and I (3 of my room mates) arrived late Friday night, checked into the hostel, and left immediately to enoy free tapas. We may have started late, but we quickly and happily stuffed our faces with sangria and food. Tapas, to clarify, are essentially free ´appetizers´ popular in Spain. Some of them border sketchy (such as, but not limited to, blood soup and sausage), and others are absolutely appetizing (calamari anyone?!) We met a few guys who seemed friendly at first, and then proceeded to make fun of all Americans (in a not so charming way).
Which brings me to a side note. They mentioned to us in the first weeks that we would experience some profiling and be subject to many stereotypes. I didn't understand, nor did I completely believe, these assumptions I was to make. But after being here for a few months, I can unfortunately say that I've heard plenty of ¨fuck the US¨ and American slurs to last me the rest of the trip. And in retaliation, since arguing is generally not worth the time and effort, I will say, that while I am not always one hundred percent proud of the United States and it's history, that no citizen of any country really can say they are, if they're being *honest.* I'm here, in Spain, for 6 months, to learn about the culture, language and history. What are you doing to advance your knowledge of the US?
Moving on...
We went to bed on the later side, to wake up super early in an attempt to get tickets for the Alhambra. We arrived around 7:30 am to wait in line, and were surprised to find that many of the others waiting in line also lived or studied in Madrid. While we perhaps, did not need to arrive quite as early as we did, the security in tickets was definitely worth it. The Alhambra, (I will attempt to describe, but words are scarce for me at this moment) is essentially a large reserve full of ancient Moorish palaces atop the mountains in Granada. Not only was the area beautiful, but the view was spectacular.
We also made time for the Catholic Cathedral and plenty of food. As if my suitcases won't be heavy enough, Spain is providing me with a few extra pounds. And if free tapas with every drink, and icecream weren't enough in Granada, we also felt the need to try out Fresco, a pizza, salad, soup and dessert buffet.
Anyway, like any mature group of 20 something year old girls, our second night ended with a stop at the candy store and t.v. in our hostel :)
We peaced out of Granada gracefully with some market shopping, tomb looking (El Capillo Real, where Ferdinand and Isabel are ´buried´, kind of a big deal...) Overall, a successful trip :)
¡Barcelona! Land of over priced buildings.
So, perhaps I went into Barcelona with expectations raised too high... Everyone I had talked to claimed it was one of their favorite trips... one of the prettiest cities in Spain. But for me, while I enjoyed myself (as always), I felt like Barcelona was created for tourists, and boosted little else.
Liz and I took the first Metro to the airport, and boarded early am flights. We met Sonya in the Barcelona Airport, and took a cab to our destination: Mysterious hostel!Here you may admire the door our hostel. Our cab driver a) had no idea where the hostel was and b) left us with immense laughter and a ¨Good luck¨.
The Ritz definitely gave some flavor to our trip however. We met a few crazy Italian guys and couldn't contain our laughter at the middle night shenanigans of our roommates.
Thursday we walked around the city, explored the outdoor sights, streets and plazas... We went to one of Gaudi's fanfabulously designed houses: Casa Mila. Which was cool, but also slightly disappointing as we could only see maybe a third of the rooms. We grabbed delicious tapas and dessert at a local restaurant, took a nap, and headed back out for an adventerous night of gelato and ham pearls.
Friday we woke up early to check out the huge market in Barcelona: La Boqueria. Looking for small dead pigs? Check! Fresh fruit juice? Check! Vegetables, tapas, crepes? Success! I tried some kiwi coconut juice (delicious, in case you were wondering) before we made our way to the Picasso Museum. After hours of art, we attempted to make our way to the beach. A food stop was necessary first (real food followed by gelato). While the sun was less existent than I would
have liked and the weather a little chilly, stepping on sand in March was amazing. After the beach, we split up and Liz, Sonya and I checked out a fairytale themed bar. (Barcelona must have known I was coming!) before taking a short nap, and grabbing a late dinner Sushi buffet style. After hanging out with some Italian boys, and being stalked by a crazy Barcelonean, we headed to bed.
Saturday included another morning at the market, Park Guell (Gaudi's famous HUGE park). For all of you America's Next Top Model Fans, the season with Carrie Dee and Melrose season finale was filmed here (always in the presence of fame here, even when it's not my own). We also checked out the Sagrada Familia, a church Gaudi began designing in the late 1800's, which has yet to be finished. I will say the 'tourist' attractions made up the low lights of our experience in Barcelona. Everything was incredibly over priced, and you couldn't explore half of the inside of any edificio. In La Sagrada Familia (apparently the one big thing you HAVE to see in Barcelona), for example, I took an elevator to the top (basically your only option), saw a great view, and walked down approximately 1.93 thousand flights of boring cement stairs. All for the low low student discounted price of 12.50 euros. And like I mentioned, the building is completely under construction so you couldn't see more than a fourth of the ground floor.
We ended our last night in Barcelona with (obviously), more food, getting lost, more food, and an early bed time as our flight required us to get up around 5am.
All in all, as much as Barcelona perhaps didn't live up to it's expectations, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. By the end of the vaca however, I was more than ready to explore some cities outside of Spain.
Semana Santa, here we go!
As promised, blog catch-up this week :)
